A NEW APPROACH TO TERTIARY TRAININGS
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Another proof to this, is the fact that most employers, companies and industries are not satisfied with the qualification level of these graduates. Even though they are forced to employ them but they are not getting their pay worth. A good example of this is a recent rather ridiculous story of Dangote Group trying to employ truck drivers.
At the interview, a rather ugly picture that demonstrates how deplorable the education system of that nation has become. Out of 13, 000 applicants who applied to become truck drivers, some were PHD holders, some were Master degree holders and majority were Bachelor Degree holders.
Why would degree holders like this be scrambling to be employed as truck drivers? Well that is simply an affirmation of what I had said above. When 80% of graduates are unemployable, you might only be left with becoming truck drivers, because you are left with no other place to go.
These statistics is a hemorrhage on a nation. A national shame and disgrace. Of the 13,000 applications, 8,460 were bachelor degree holders. 704 carried master degree certificates. 6 were PhD holders. What do you think about that my friends? Don’t you think the Greece scenario is beckoning?
The question of employment, jobs and the ability of different governments to resolve this global task is indeed becoming overwhelming. We need a new approach. It is my firm believe that the old thinking of producing graduates who later look for jobs is completely derailing. It is born out of the early capitalist philosophy of tertiary institutions producing and graduating students as workers, service men, employees in companies that are owned by few wealthy individuals. That mindset has taken such deep root in the heart of our modern society that it has almost become a given that graduates look for jobs.
The fundamental philosophy of this concept is where the problem is. Universities should not be producing and graduating just employees, workers or managers. Colleges and higher institutions of learning should be able to do something better than that. The old concept of producing graduates to service corporations and industries owned by few private individuals is completely faulty.
The current crisis going on in various countries of the world like in Greece is only but a confirmation that the whole system is falling apart. Old mindsets must give way to more progressive ideas. The technocrats who are sitting in our ministries of education, those who are responsible for our academic curricula, must be either urgently replaced or go for an apparent upgrade.
We have to come up with a new approach to tertiary education. We must move away from just graduating employees and managers into producing self-employable graduates. This might sound like a new concept, but the goal is clear. A graduate must never be looking for a job. At least for the most part. I think it is a testament to our failure that graduates are unemployable.
So, what am I advocating in this article? My answer is capsuled in one word – RELEVANCE.
To be continued tomorrow…
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, CHURCH AND NATION
By Pastor Sunday Adelaja
